Of Planning Balls, Deflating, and Getting the Girl
by TheCheeseStandsAlone
Summary: How James manages to win Lily over in their seventh year...the sequel is added! well kind of it starts at chapter six..I decided that it was easier just to add it in here.
1. Chapter One Breaking the News

"Andie!" Lily Evans squealed when she saw her best friend after a long summer of traveling around the country, not staying in one place long enough to get a hold of any of her friends. "I missed you!" she said hugging her friend tightly.  
  
It was September first, start of term at Hogwarts, and they were returning to school for their seventh and final year. Platform 9 ¾ was just as crowded as it normally was, scared looking first years looking around nervously, saying good bye to their parents and then boarding the train. Lily glanced back at the barrier where she had left her parents. They were Muggles, so they of course couldn't get through the barrier to the platform.  
  
"Lily, how've you been?" Andrea Mick asked after she had escaped Lily's death grip around her shoulders. Andrea was short and had curly blonde hair that reached just passed her shoulder blades, and almost reached her middle back. She had hazel eyes and was slightly chubby.  
  
"I've been ok," Lily said, grabbing her friends arm and pulling her toward the train. "Come on, I want to get a good compartment this year," she said as she drug her truck to one of the storage compartments, Andie following her.  
  
Soon they were on the train and seated in a compartment near the middle. There were still a few minutes before the train left the station. Most people were still out on the platform saying goodbye to family and rushing to get to the train as the whistle blew.  
  
Lily and Andrea had been great friends since their second year. In their first year, they had a disagreement, a rather stupid disagreement, about muggle sports. In the end Andie finally agreed that Lily was correct that football did have two different names.  
  
Andrea was a half-blood witch, but her mother, who was a muggle, had died when she was just a small child, so she was raised as a wizard, because that's the only way her father knew how to raise a child.  
  
About half way through the train ride, there was a small knock at the door. The two girls looked up from their chess game to see who it was. Lily however wished she hadn't once she had.  
  
"What do you want, Potter?" she asked, not even trying to mask the hatred in her voice for politeness. He and his stupid friends were always terrorizing other students for fun. They were by far some of the most popular people in school. Lily was popular too, however she known for her kindness and not for pranks as the Marauders were.  
  
"You," he said simply, and then laughed at the look on her face. Her eyes narrowed and her ears turned as red as her hair. "You look like a tomato," he said. With that he and his friends left the compartment, no doubt to go and pick on some poor first years.  
  
Lily spent the rest of the train ride ranting and raving about how much she despised James Potter. She was just about to bring up their fifth year, when he had endlessly tortured Severus Snape, and she had endlessly stuck up for Severus, when Andrea spoke up for the first time since the Marauder's arrival.  
  
"He's head boy," she said, looking at Lily to see her reaction.  
  
"How do you figure? He wasn't even a prefect, how could he have actually managed to get head boy? It's just not possible. You have to be a prefect to get head boy or girl don't you?" Lily asked her eyes wide.  
  
"Guess not," Andie said, looking down at her watch. "I saw the badge on his robes in case you were wondering," she added. "Well, we're almost there, we better get changed."  
  
At the sorting ceremony, Lily's worst fears were confirmed. James Potter was indeed head boy. Later that night, Lily was talking to the other two girls in Gryffindor while Andrea was in the shower.  
  
"Maybe you two should just get over your differences and at least try to get along for the sake of Hogwarts," Shelly, a tall girl with black hair and glasses said, looking up from her magazine, her blue eyes staring at Lily.  
  
"Easier said than done," muttered Kimberly, who was putting her long brown hair up in a pony tail. "He's not "exactly get a long with" material," she added, as she finished with her hair.  
  
"Well, I guess I could try it, but if it doesn't work out, then you know, it's you fault Shelly," Lily said jokingly, closing the curtains around her four poster bed. She heard Shelly laugh at her comment, and say good night, but she was already half gone and didn't bother trying to answer.  
  
Life at Hogwarts was like it usually was around that time of the year, classes were starting to become boring, and no one could wait until Christmas when they would have three whole weeks off school. Lily liked the normal routine; in fact the only thing that she found wrong with it was the fact that when the Marauders got bored, there would soon be a prank pulled on some innocent victim.  
  
It was about two weeks before Christmas break during breakfast when Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement. "Would the two head students please come with me at this time?" he asked, looking over at James, and then to Lily as if to make sure that they knew they were the head students.  
  
She stood, and slowly followed the headmaster out of the Great Hall, she could hear James's footsteps behind her, but didn't bother turning around. They followed him up to this office where he told them to take a seat.  
  
"Now I realize that this is short notice," he started, looking at the two of them over his half moon glasses. "But, we are going to have a ball, and I need you two to plan it for me," he said. "We don't usually have Christmas Balls, but this year is special, we are having the Headmasters and Headmistresses of three major wizard schools, as well as their head students, or the equivalent to them.  
  
"I have a few requirements I need you to meet for me though," he said before either of them could say anything. "There needs to be a band, a wide variety of food and desserts, and a color theme," he finished. "You may find this book helpful," he added as an afterthought, and pulled a large book out of his desk. James took it when he handed it over the desk toward him.  
  
That evening, after dinner, Lily and James sat at a small round table at the back of the common room with papers spread everywhere. They were reading out of the book that Dumbledore had given to them, "The Best Balls". James of course found great humor in the title of this book.  
  
"Come on James, silver and blue, or -"James cut her off.  
  
"Silver and blue," he said. "But what color blue?" he asked, looking up from the parchment he was scribbling on.  
  
"Well, I think dark would look nicer," she said, "But light blue would look nice too," she said, thinking. "Come on, you have to help me here or this is never going to get done!" she said, throwing the book on the table.  
  
"Dark," he said simply, "and yes we will get this done, at least we will if you start working," he added the last bit with a cold look.  
  
"Ugh, Potter you're impossible," with that she stood up and walked up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.  
  
"Yeah, well you're not much better," he called after her. He sighed and gathered up the papers that were scattered everywhere and put them in the book on the page they were using.  
  
"Way to get the girl Prongs," Sirius said with a smirk, walking over to the table where James was still gathering things.  
  
"You have to help me Padfoot," he said, sitting down and putting his head in his hands. "What is it about me she hates?"  
  
"You don't want to know," Shelly said. She was passing by and heard the conversation and decided to join in, even if she did rather dislike the two of them.  
  
"Yes I do," James said, lifting his head from the table.  
  
"Ok fine, I'll tell you," Shelly said, sitting down where Lily had been a few short minutes ago. "She thinks you're an egotistical bastard, she hates how you treat other people, she hates how you think you own the world, and I think that's it, but the list grows every day," she said standing up and walking away.  
  
a/n: well that was the first part, if you like it review so I know people like it and then I'll post the next part.  
  
Disclaimer: I own Andrea woo hoo lol that's just about all I own.don't sue me 


	2. Chapter Two Letting it Slip

As Shelly walked away, James groaned and put his head back on the table. "Don't worry Prongs, It's only a whole personality make over," he said. James didn't say anything so he left. James wasn't sure how long he sat there, but some time after Sirius left, Lily came back down. She had forgotten her quill.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked as she reached under the table to pick up the forgotten item. "You look dead."

James didn't say anything, he just groaned and picked his head up off the table and gave her a dirty look. He'd start his 'Personality Make Over' tomorrow. When she looked up from where she was sitting on the floor trying to reach her quill, she burst into laughter. "Nice forehead, Potter,"

James glared at her and walked up to the dorm, not even bothering to say anything, or even groan. He walked up the stairs, all the way to the top to where the seventh year boys' dormitory was, and walked right over to a mirror. Not only did he have the lines of the table on his forehead, he also had some ink that someone before them must have been coloring the writing on the table in.

Not bothering to wash it off, he walked over to his bed and lay down, closing the curtains around him. Lily was right, what _was_ wrong with him? He would normally look at the task of chasing a girl to be thrilling and fun. He often had to temporarily change parts of his personality to get girls, but this time…

_I'll start tomorrow,_ He vowed to himself just before he fell asleep. He could vaguely hear people walking around, he wasn't sure if it was morning or night, but he didn't want to find out. He was still exhausted. Just as he was finally about to fall back asleep fully, Remus ripped the hangings around his bed, letting the sun to wake him up the rest of the way.

That day in charms, James decided that he'd start a small part of changing, or in Sirius's words, deflating. He decided that he would not ask her to pass him anything like he usually did. He decided that He'd just get up and get it himself, and get hers too. Lily didn't like this.

"I'm perfectly capable of getting my OWN tea cup Potter, I don't need you to get it for me!" she yelled her face red with anger and her eyes flashing.

"Damn, I was just being nice," James yelled back, "If it means that much to you, Princess Lily, I'll take the damn thing back and you can get it yourself." Lily just stared at him, what he said was sinking in, and he instantly knew it was a mistake.

Five spells, a lot of swearing, and three detentions later, James was in Dumbledore's Office, along with Lily.

Dumbledore sighed and put his glasses down on the desk that was covered in papers and trinkets. He rubbed his temples slightly as looked at the two head students. James had no bones in his left hand, his skin was silver in stead of its normal tan, and his robes flashed different colors. Lily, on the other hand, was polka dotted, and her red hair was standing up on end.

"So this all happened because Mr. Potter brought you a tea cup in charms class?" Dumbledore asked. The two students nodded and then went back to glaring at each other. "Well, I can't take away the detentions, so you'll be serving them in the library. Make sure you take your ball planning materials with you, even if you are in detention, we need a ball." With that the headmaster dismissed them.

"Way to go Potter," Lily said, once they were out of ear shot of the headmaster. "This is all your fault you know that right?"

"_My_ fault? If you were actually like a normal person, then you would have taken the fucking tea cup and said 'Thank you Potter,' but no, I don't know what I was thinking when I decided that I would change every thing I am for _you_," James shouted, he was going to say more, but then he realized what he said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lily asked as James ran into her. She had stopped dead when she heard what he had said.

"Nothing, never mind forget I said anything," He pushed passed her and went back to the common room, completely skipping the rest of Charms. _Why did I say that! Why?_ He thought to himself as he sat down on the couch. _God James you're so dumb. Of all the stupid things you could have said, you picked the stupidest of them all._

That evening, after dinner, Lily and James made there way to the library in silence, they didn't even throw insults at each other. It was perhaps the best they had ever gotten along. They each sat at a different end of the table. Lily worked on decorations and refreshments, while James worked on writing letters to the bands to see who would be willing to play.

"Hey Evans, how do you spell entertainment? Is it with an 'I' or an 'E'?" James asked, looking up from the letter he was writing to a band called the weird Sisters, who were just starting out and still weren't very popular.

Lily thought about this for a minute or two. "'E' I think," she said, and then looked back down to her paper that she was scribbling notes on. "Do you think we should have Blue streamers and Silver balloons, silver streamers and blue balloons, or both colors of each?" she asked, biting the tip of her quill.

"Both," he said, folding the letter and giving it to one of the school owls they had brought down to send the letters off with. "What color candles are you going to have?" he asked, as he started the next letter to the Tricky Tricksters.

"I was thinking blue, with silver holders, or would that be too tacky?" she asked, filling out an order form for the candy from Honeydukes.

"No, its fine," he said, singing the letter for both him and Lily and tying it to the leg of the last owl. "I'm done, what do you want me to do?"

Lily glanced at her watch, "We can leave now if you want, just finish the rest of it tomorrow night, and then do the finishing touches on Thursday."

"Alright, see you later Evans," he gathered his things, and left her there at the table. _Did I just have a civil conversation with Lil- Evans?_

Lily sat at the table, watching James leave. She sighed and went back to getting her things together. When she picked up the book that James had found so funny the night before, "The Best Balls", she found a piece of parchment with her name on it. She didn't recognize the writing, but she pocketed it anyway.

When James got back to the common room, he looked around for his friends. He found Sirius and Peter playing chess and Remus going down the stairs from the dormitories. Sirius looked up from his game when he saw James.

"Well? How'd it go? Did you give her the note?" he asked, not noticing Peter switching two of the pieces on the board around.

"No, I told you I wouldn't. It was completely stupid! You wanted me to give her that crap?" James said, shaking his head and laughing at the look on his best friends face. 

"Well, It always works for me," Sirius said, shrugging his shoulders and going back to his chess game. "Wormtail, you cheated,"

"Damn you, how'd you know?" he asked, moving all the pieces back to their original places on the board.

"I have my ways," he said simply, moving one of his pieces. Peter rolled his eyes and then turned his attention to James. "So how was detention with Miss Lily?"

James sighed. "It was interesting, very interesting," he shook his head. "She was actually being civil with me, and we're almost done with all this stupid planning crap." He sat down on a chair and watched the rest of his friends' chess game. Some how Peter had managed to win without cheating. He was more of an exploding snap person than a chess person he always said. 

_Well, if things keep going like this, then by the time I've completely changed she'll like me._

a/n: Well there's part two! Thank you to my wonderful reviewers for the last chapter. Marie, Ron Weasley , and Dude Where's My Cheese. I hope this was a fast enough update for you all! Well, I'm off to clean the front porch, as if you all care…lol 


	3. Chapter Three Padfoot's Masterpiece

Lily walked into the common room that night shortly after James. He was talking to Remus and Sirius and Peter were playing chess. She ignored the smile that James had given her and glared at him instead. _ What are you doing Lily? Are you completely psycho?? Why are you glaring at him? He's so…_ Lily thought, then stopped herself at that last part. She shook her head and went up to her dorm.

She crossed the room to her bed and sat down. She was just reaching into the pocket of her robes when Andrea came out of the bathroom with her toothbrush still in hand. "Hey Lils, how was detention with the object of your affection?" she asked with a wide grin.

"What? Potter's not the object of my affection! What are you crazy?" this might have convinced her friend, if only she hadn't blushed.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Andrea said, walking back into the bathroom to put her toothbrush down. When she returned, Lily had fished the parchment out of her deep pockets and was just opening it. "What's that?"

"Hell if I know," was Lily's answer. She finally had it unfolded the whole way. Andrea sat down behind her, reading over her shoulder.

_Lily,_

About what I said in the hall today. I really meant that I am changing for you. I realize that you hate everything about me and everything that I am but I'm willing to change all of that for you

**Padfoot what are you doing?!**

_Relax Prongs, It's only a note. It's not like it's a...death threat or anything. _

**_You know, Padfoot, I don't like the look in your eye, and judging by the color Prongs is, I don't think he does either._**

_You guys are no fun…I wasn't going to do anything too permanent. _

Some how, I don't believe you Padfoot…

_Tehehe_

Wow, that was incredibly girly, Padfootetta,

**Ohh good one Wormtail.**

****

_Well, considering we just wrote all this shit on here, I don't think Prongs is going to give this note to her?_

**Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony that Mr. Prongs is indeed *not* going to give this masterpiece of Sirius' to Miss. Lily**

Lily glanced back at Andrea who was just as shocked as she was. "Well…" she said, her voice trembling slightly. "That was… Different,"

James was sitting in the common room talking with Remus about the next full moon when Lily walked into the common room. He gave her a small smile, he wasn't completely shocked when all he received was a glare.

Shortly after that James went up to the seventh year boys' dorm. He lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. _You're crazy to even try this you know._ a little voice in his head said. _She'll never like you, let alone love you. You don't have the slightest chance with Lily Evans. You're better of f with girls like Rebecca Stone._ the little voice taunted some more. This was the last thought he had before he drifted off into sleep. 

The next day, James noticed Lily giving him strange looks every so often. He wasn't sure what to think. Either Sirius told her something, or she actually liked him, or maybe she was a seer and knew things like that…_No James don't be stupid. She's not a seer…She's not even in divination was she?_

He decided that he would just ignore the fact that she was watching him. Every time he caught her looking at him he would give her a questioning look, but she would just smirk, roll her eyes and look away. _Girls are crazy Prongs._ he told himself that night on his way to detention.

When he arrived in the library, he saw Lily sitting at a back table waiting patently for him. As he grew nearer to her, he could see that she had that same smirk on her face that she had all day when she saw him.

He reached his hands into his pockets in an attempt to look nonchalant. He might have succeeded if he hadn't let out a small scream. He looked down at his empty hand in horror. _Oh my god the note is gone. WHERE IS THE NOTE?!_ he screamed at himself inside his head. (Did that make any sense?) 

"Hello, Potter," she said, her eyes were laughing; laughing at him. _She has the note. Oh god, She has it,_ he thought franticly. His worst fears were confirmed when she started to speak again. "I got your note yesterday. Very entertaining I must say," she said.

_Just play dumb James, just play dumb._ "What note?" he asked, trying to look confused, but failing miserably. _Shit shit shit!_ she was reaching into the pocket of her robes, producing a neatly folded piece of parchment from within the plain black fabric. She tossed it to him. He immediately recognized it as the note that Sirius had wrote for him to give to her. He hadn't even bothered to read it before, but now he figured he'd find out what was so funny.

He unfolded the note, and read the contents. He began laughing nervously "Oh thank god, it's only this note…" 

"Why what was another note?" she asked, now very curious. 

"heh heh, that's a funny story really…" he said not really knowing what to tell her. "We have a lot of planning to do," he said sitting down far away from her at the table.

The rest of the hour and a half detention was spent in an awkward silence that neither could break. James tired to talk every once in a while, but his throat was too dry to even breath, let alone talk to her. He didn't get much work done by the time that the hour was up. In fact he hadn't even filled out one order form completely.

Lily hadn't gotten much done either, she kept thinking about the note, and how James had changed the subject so quickly. She began to feel guilty for thinking that it was funny. _What are you doing Lily? Are you completely nuts?_ the voice in the back of her mind asked as she stared at James who had his head bent over the form we was filling out for the decorations._Ugh, don't be so stupid, I was just staring off into space, not at him,_ she told herself. _And besides, he doesn't like you, that note's proof of it._

The walk back to the Gryffindor Common Room was silent and strained as well until James glanced at Lily and started laughing. She looked at him suspiciously, and then checked to make sure she still had all her limbs, and everything was the right color with no patterns. "What's so funny?"

"Sirius must've cursed the note." He said between small laughing fits. "You're hair, its, its," Lily never found out just what her hair was because they got to the common room, and James ran off yelling 'Padfoot I'm going to kill you,"

Lily noticed the whole common room staring at her, so she glared at them all and walked up the stairs to the dorm. When she got there, Andrea was sitting on her bed, doing a potions essay. She glanced up to say hi to her best friend, and then she too started laughing.

What is going on?" Lily asked, hoping her best friend would tell her. Andrea sighed and pointed to a mirror. Lily walked cautiously over to the mirror, but she saw nothing wrong. Nothing different, her hair was just as it had been when she left for detention.

"Come on Andie, just tell me will ya? I don't see anything," She sat on the end of Andrea's bed, and gave her a puppy dog face. "Please?"

"Oh alright, but only because you look so pathetic, and really quite scary." She said, Lily glared at her and told her to hurry up and tell her. "Lily dear, you're…bald,"

Lily got up and walked over to the mirror, and sure enough there wasn't a hair on her head. The last sound that many heard before they went to sleep was the voice of Lily Evans, "James Potter I'm going to KILL YOU!"

a/n: Well, there's chapter three. I never knew so many people would like this story, but hey, I'm not complaining! 

Thanks to: freakyfroggurl22, Marie, clueless, and Ron Weasley. Thanks for the great reviews! They make me feel all nice and happy! Lol

Sorry this is kind of short, I'll try to make the next chapter longer.

-Manda


	4. Chapter Four Finishing Touches

James Potter sat in the common room, laughing with his friends when Lily Evan's came down the stairs wearing a hat. "James Potter, I want to talk to you." She said, grabbing his arm, and pulling him over to a small table where there were very few people.

"What?" he asked irritably. "Nice hat," he added, grinning when he saw the lime green material with bright blue butterflies.

"Shut up," she said, "Look what you did to me? Do you not see this… this lack of hair on my head? It's all gone, I've tried everything, and it won't grow back!" she said, her voice rising with each word.

"Calm down, _I_ didn't do anything to you but try to be nice, I'm not even sure how the hell you got that note, and I didn't but the curse on it." He said, his voice also rising.

They soon had a small audience gathered around, but they were too busy yelling to even bother noticing them. "Don't _try_ to be anything. I hate you, I always have, I always will." She yelled, glaring at him.

"Some how I don't believe that." James said, Lily was going to say something, but he stopped her by putting his hand over her mouth. "Just let me talk for a second alright?" he asked, calmly. She reluctantly nodded her head, and removed his hand from her mouth. "Ok, I like you Lily, you know that, but you don't like me, so I've decided to change for you, so that you _will_ like me. But now I'm not so sure I'm doing the right thing.

"So, with that in mind, why don't you go ask _Sirius_ how you get you're hair back. He's the one that made the curse up, I'm sure he knows a counter curse."

Lily looked at him in disgust. "You make me sick." With that she turned and stomped out of the common room leaving a trail of whispering behind her. As soon as the portrait hole shut, the common room exploded in loud conversation about the latest Potter vs. Evans episode.

Lily was pacing outside the portrait of the Fat Lady talking to herself. "I don't know why I'm so upset. It's not like it's the fist prank he's ever pulled on me. But to actually joke around about liking me? He's gone too far this time." She mumbled, sitting down by the wall. She put her head in her hands and groaned. "You've lost you're mind Lily Evans," As she said those last words, the portrait opened, and James stepped out.

"Hey," he said, sitting next to her. She made to stand up, but he grabbed her arm and told her to stay there. "I'm really sorry, and I didn't put a curse on that note."

"I still hate you, curse or not," she replied, staring at the wall in front of her.

"You don't believe me do you?" he said, searching her face. She could tell her was sincere by the tone of his voice, but she chose to ignore it and take the easy route out.

"Do I look stupid? Of course I don't believe you." She tried to stand up, but James grabbed her arm again. "And besides, there's no proof that you didn't do it," she said, still struggling to get away.

"Yes there is." He said, "I'm a Marauder which means I took the Marauder's oath." He began, but Lily cut him off.

"Whoopee! Hooray for you! James Potter is a Marauder and took the Marauder's oath so therefore I should believe every word he ever says!" She yelled out into the empty hallway.

"Let me finish," he said. She rolled her eyes but listened anyway. "The Marauder's oath states that a marauder must always confess to a prank, and not be ashamed of it. That means that I didn't do the curse on that note, I didn't even know there _was_ a curse on that note. Go ask Sirius, I bet you any money he'll admit to it." 

"So let me get this straight. You want me to believe you that because you're in some stupid club or whatever it is, that you would in fact admit to it, if you did it, which I still think you did?"

"Basically, yes, but think about it this way. I've played a lot of pranks on you, and your little friend Snivellus, and just about every other Slytherin, and just about every other person in the school, have I ever denied doing any of those? Why would I start now?" He asked, looking at her. She glanced up at him, she was about to say something when a new voiced entered the conversation.

"He has a point there dear, I've heard stories of the things he's done from other paintings and suits of armor. He has indeed confessed to all of them. I can hear what's going on inside the common room as well as outside you know,"

At fist Lily was startled, but then she realized that she was not losing her mind, that it was only the Portrait of the Fat Lady who had returned to her frame a few moments before. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She said. "But that doesn't mean I like you. I still hate you just as much as I did a few minutes ago." She added when she saw his face light up.

"Just go ask Sirius to get you're hair back. He's the only one that knows how." James said, standing up. "Shriveled toad" he said, and then walked into the common room with a dejected look on his face.

The next few days were as normal as they could be with planning the ball during detention, trying to avoid each other, and Lily's best friend going out with one of James's best friends.

Lily knew Andrea had liked Remus, but she didn't know that her friend would actually get the guts to ask him out.

The days until the ball were going by faster and faster, and the planning took longer than both James and Lily thought it would. On the day before the deadline, they were sitting in the common room at one in the morning, trying to figure out what band to hire. Two of them said they would play, but only one of them could be chosen.

"The Weird Sisters responded first Potter; it's only fair to pick them." Lily said, pacing in front of the table they were working at.

"Yeah, but we sent them the owl first, I remember, I send the Weird Sisters one before the Tricky Tricksters. It only makes sense that they wrote back to us first." James argued. He too was pacing. It was late and they were both tired and getting very irritated with one another.

"it was about five minutes, Potter, five minutes difference. The Weird Sisters responded a day ahead of the Tricky Tricksters." Lily sat down in at the table and glanced at her watch. "Come on Potter, it's only fair, and their letter was more positive than the other one. The flat out said they could. Tricky said that they _might_ be able to make it. What would we do if they decided they had something better to do than play at a school ball?" Lily asked, yawning slightly. She rubbed her eyes and looked at James waiting for his answer. 

They were both a mess. Lily's hair was messed up, her eyes had dark bags underneath them. "Yeah, I s'pose you're right," he said, sitting down as well. "So I guess I'll just write the Weird Sisters, and then we'll be done. You can go on up to bed, I can take care of it," he said, leaning his head back and rubbing his temples.

"Potter you look half dead, I'll do it," Lily said, reaching for a quill and a piece of parchment. As she was pulling a bottle of ink toward her, he put his hand on her arm and smiled at her. "I'll do it James, I'm not incapable of doing things at 1:30 in the morning," she said.

"No, it's not that. I don't know," he said, looking away, and blushing slightly. Lily gave him an odd look and then started on the letter. About halfway through it she noticed James was still there.

"You can go to bed you know, I'm almost done," she said softly looking at him with slight concern. He was barely awake, every time he blinked, it took longer and longer for him to open up his eyes again.

"Go too the ball with me, Lily," he said suddenly, looking more awake than he had in hours. Lily just looked at him shocked. Her eyes were wide and she looked some what like a goldfish out of water.

"I…I umm I," she was stumbling over her words. _God Evans get yourself together it's Potter!_ she thought. She could feel her face flushing and she looked away.

a/n:Well there's chapter four.. I know I said it would be a little longer, but this just seemed like a nice place to stop….tehehe cliffy! Well I'll have the next part out as soon as it's written.

Thanks to: o0true0o for the review on chapter three, and all my other wonderful reviewers on the previous chapters.

Just like every other author, reviews make me happy! Lol

-Manda


	5. Chapter Five sniff sniff The End

_In the last chapter…_

"Go too the ball with me, Lily," he said suddenly, looking more awake than he had in hours. Lily just looked at him shocked. Her eyes were wide and she looked some what like a goldfish out of water.

"I…I umm I," she was stumbling over her words. _God Evans get yourself together it's Potter!_ she thought. She could feel her face flushing and she looked away.

**Chapter Five**

James watched her with, his heart rising. She turned around; her face was normally colored now. She walked up to him, smiled sweetly and said "Go to Hell Potter, I won't go to the ball with you. I will dance the first dance because we have to, but after that, don't come near me," she said, still smiling sweetly. As she spoke those words, James's heart fell right to the floor. He made a mental note to go look for it in the dungeons the next day…

Lily hurried and finished the letter and sent it off before going up the stairs to the dorms. The walk to the top set of dorms seemed longer than normal. _It's just because you're tired,_ she told herself as she reached the door marked Seventh Year Girls. Lily decided that she would never tell anyone about their little encounter down in the common room. She tried to tell herself that it was just nerves and tiredness mixed together that made him ask.

Her plan would've gone much better if the creaking door hadn't woken Shelly up. Lily and Shelly weren't best friends, but they were close enough to figure out when some thing was bothering the other. But then again I guess that's what happens when you live with someone for six and a half years.

"Hey Lils, you just getting to bed?" shelly asked tiredly, peeking out from the curtains that were closed around her bed. She reached out and felt around for her glasses, and once she had them she put them on, clearing up her vision.

"Nothing," she said simply. "Just tired," she added at Shelly's questioning look. She rolled her eyes. "I'm serious nothing's wrong Shell,"

"Oh my god! He asked you didn't he?" Shelly demanded suddenly awake and very excited. "James asked you to the ball! I knew it!" Unfortunately for Lily, this woke Andrea up. 

"Well, did he Lils?" she demanded, pulling her tangled curly hair out of her face. Lily made a face and nodded her head causing the other two girls to squeal with delight. "What'd you say? You said yes didn't you?" Lily made another face she shook her head, causing her friends to groan.

James walked up to the boys' dorm while Lily was still finishing the letter to the Weird Sisters. As soon as he opened the door, three eager faces were waiting for him. "What'd she say Prongs?" and "Did you ask her?" were some of the many questions thrown at him from his dorm mates. He just sighed, and climbed into bed, not bothering to change out of his uniform. Somewhere in the back of his head he could hear Remus saying "Padfoot, just leave him alone, I think she might've said no," then he was asleep.

The week had passed pretty quickly, and soon the whole seventh year was helping with decorating the hall, with Lily and James supervising. This wouldn't have been that bad if Sirius would have quit putting mistletoe up when they told him that there was not going to be any mistletoe.

Sirius soon forgot about mistletoe, and was entertained with something else for the time being. Lily sat down at one of the house tables, she wasn't sure which, and it didn't really matter to her. She lazily floated some streamers up a little ways where they had decided the imaginary ceiling was going to be. She was just about to float a group of balloons up when some one sat down beside her.

"Hey Lily," Remus said, helping her tie the balloons into a group with two blue and two silver. Not waiting for her to say anything, he continued. "He does really like you know you."

Lily sighed, and turned to face him. "Yes, I'm quite aware of that Remus." Then she pulled a face. "What _is_ Sirius _doing_?"

Remus glanced across the hall to see what she was talking about. His best friend was sitting on the floor with a line of mistletoe hung in a line across the whole great hall in front of the doors so that girls would have to kiss him to get out. "Who knows, it's Sirius," he said, shaking his head and laughing slightly. "Anyway, if you know he likes you, then why not just go to the ball with him?"

"It's simple really, I don't like to lead people on, and if I say I'll go to the ball with him, he might think that I actually like him." She said, looking at him. _Too bad you like him_ she thought to herself. _Grr Lily no you don't you do not like Potter._

After about another hour, the Great Hall was completely transformed. It no longer held four long house tables, they were all moved away, and all that was left was the staff table for food and several smaller tables for people to eat and sit down when they weren't dancing. The tables all had dark blue table cloths with small sliver stars and a single blue candle in a silver holder floating above it. All the food was set out, and they still had two hours to get themselves ready.

The Seventh Year Girls' Dorm was alive with movement and shouts and talking mirrors that evening while they were getting ready for the ball. They had girls from lower years asking them to do their make up or their hair because they couldn't get the charm to work right, or they wanted to do it the muggle way but didn't know how. They were borrowing things and transfiguring things.

The Seventh Year Boys' Dorm however, was very unlike that. They took a shower shaved and put on dress robes. That was it; they didn't bother to see if their shoes went with the dress robes, they didn't care really. They just went down to the common room and sat down to a game of chess, ignoring Peter's mirror that was telling them to 'smarten up there will be young ladies around!'

Just as Lily was putting the finishing touches on her Make up, there was an announcement for all the students to report to the entrance hall. She, Andrea, Shelly and Kimberly all made their way down the stairs into the common room. They met up with the Marauders at the bottom of the stairs, because Andrea and Remus wanted to walk down together. They were some of the last students out there, except for a group of Ravenclaw girls who were still not all the way ready.

"As most of you may know, we are having this ball tonight to honor our guests. Now, we will be having the Headmasters and Headmistresses from three different schools, as well as their head students. Now, would Head boy and girl please come forward, I would like you be out there to great them as well as myself and the other members of the faculty." Dumbledore's voice rang through the air, magically amplified to be sure that every one could hear him.

Lily and James fought their way to the front of the crowd. Lily ignored a group of Hufflepuff guys that whistled when she walked by, but unfortunately, James didn't. Just as he was about to say something and cause a scene, Lily grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. "Come on Potter, we have to make a good impression. Although, with hair like that it might be hard," she said, pointing to his hair.

James pulled a face. "It grows that way. I can't help that it has a mind of its own." He said, just as they reached the front of the crowed. Dumbledore led them and the rest of the student body out onto the grounds. Just as the crowd was getting restless and Sirius was no doubt going to pull a prank, a large boat emerged from the lake. It kept going until it looked as though it was going to run into then all. It stopped, and a latter came down. A Large man came out, shortly followed by a girl and a boy, neither of them exactly small. Dumbledore introduced them to the students, and then they waiting some more. The boy who had come out after the Headmaster was just about to go over and talk to Lily when a large carriage appeared, drawn by two huge white horses with wings. Once more they were introduced, and once more they waiting.

The student body was really getting restless now, and it took all of James's self control to not pull the snitch out of his pocket and start playing with it. He decided instead to make small talk with Lily. In the middle of the conversation about how Lily would rather be eaten by the squid than burn to death, the Night Bus pulled up. James' comment about saving Lily from the squid before it could eat her was drown out by the roar of the bus.

Six students and one Headmistress walked up the path to the castle, looking slightly shaken, levitating their trunks behind them. "Finally," James muttered, forgetting about saving Lily from the giant squid.

Professor Dumbledore introduced the Headmistress as Miss Grattan, and the six students as Alice Sinclair, Stacy Martin, Melanie Martinez, Scott Turner, Jeffery Mathews, and Mark Shaw. "Well," he said cheerfully, Now that we are all here, I say we go inside and get on with the ball. Would the students in the back there please hold the doors for every one?" Dumbledore's voice rang out through the grounds.

Lily and James were the last ones in, except for Remus and Peter because they were holding the doors and Andrea because she was waiting for Lily and Remus. As the group made their way into the Great Hall, they found it exactly as it had been when they completed decorating it earlier. Not one thing was out of place, and the sky matched with everything. It was clear and dark, with a few stars every so often. There were a few minutes while people got things in order, and then Dumbledore stood to make an announcement. "Well, I would like to welcome our wonderful guests again and also to thank the Head students here at Hogwarts for putting aside their differences and getting this ball put together on time. Thank you Mr. Potter and Miss Evans, you've done an exceptional job.

"Now, to get this wonderful Ball started, would all of the Head Students please come forward to have the first dance?" Dumbledore sat down, and Lily and James slowly made their way to the front with the head students from the other schools, glaring at each other the whole time. The band had appeared on stage, and began playing.

Lily put her arms around James's neck stiffly, as he put his arms around her waist. "Ugh, this I so stupid," Lily muttered, when James laughed lightly and shook his head Lily glared at him. "What?" she asked suspiciously. "I still have all my hair don't I?" she asked, suddenly removing on of her hands and feeling the top of her head. She sighed with relief when she felt her thick red hair under her hand.

"Yes you have all of your hair, and for the last time, I didn't curse that letter. It was Padfoot." James said ignoring the strange looks they were getting from the other students from the other schools. "And to answer your question, I was just laughing, because of all the times I imagined us dancing together, it didn't involve you glaring at me the whole time and you weren't forced to dance with me." He said, sighing,

"Well, Potter, I'm sorry I hate you," she said, then she shook her head. "Let me rephrase that, I'm sorry you made m hate you," then she rolled her eyes giving up on what she was trying to say. 

"Evans, why don't you like me?" His question caught Lily off guard. Before she could reply, he went on. "I changed for you, I did everything and you still don't like me. I don't get it." He said, shaking his head.

"James, yes you did change, but it wasn't just the stopping cursing people in the hallway that you changed. It was a change that you couldn't control that I needed from you, and this year, when we were planning this damn ball, I noticed that you did change. So I couldn't help but start liking you. Congratulations Potter, you grew up," Lily said. This caused some of the people around them to laugh slightly, but before Lily could say anything to them about it being true that he did grow up he leaned down and kissed her.

a/n: AWWWW! It's over, no more, done last chapter! Woo go me!! Thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers! I LOVE you guys! If it wasn't for you guys I probably wouldn't have ever made myself get up off my lazy ass and get this written! I hope you guys liked it!

I'm also thinking about doing a sequel to this...let me know if you think I should or not.

-Manda


	6. Chapter Six Not the End After All

It was a nice day; yes indeed a very nice day. Lily Evans was sitting in her apartment looking out the window, it was sunny and warm, and it was her second summer after she graduated from Hogwarts. She was waiting for her boyfriend James Potter. They never really said they were going out, but it was more of an unspoken understanding. They started 'going out' at a Christmas Ball they had to plan in their seventh year when they were the head students.  
  
It was James's birthday, and for his gift, she got tickets to go to the Tricky Tricksters last concert. They were his favorite band after all. She sighed as she remembered the argument they had one night in the common room about that.It seemed so long ago, but it was only a little over a year ago. Lily was pulled out of her thoughts by a loud popping sound. She looked up, slightly startled, into the smiling face of James Potter.  
  
"Hey there," he said, leaning down to kiss her. Lily would've answered, but another popping sound interrupted her train of thought, and she looked around the room to see who it was this time.  
  
"Sorry to.uh.interrupt," Sirius Black sniggered, and then disappeared with another pop. Lily just shook her head and then turned to her boyfriend.  
  
"You ready for you're gift?" she asked, hardly able to contain her own excitement. He smiled and nodded his head, resembling a small child who was offered a piece of candy or something else of the sort. Just as she was reaching into the deep pocket of her robes yet another pop filled the apartment. This time it was Andrea Mick, Lily's best friend from school.  
  
"Anyone seen Remus?" she asked, pulling her thick curly blonde hair back into a pony tail. They both shook their heads and she was on her way when the fifth pop filled the small apartment.  
  
She pulled an envelope out of her pocket and handed it to him. He took it cautiously, knowing that she still didn't believe that it wasn't him that put a curse on a note that she wasn't supposed to get in seventh year that made her bald. When he opened the envelope his eyes got wide and his smile grew until it about took up his whole face.  
  
"I love you, Evans," he said, hugging her tightly. "How did you get these?" He demanded, looking at the tickets to make sure they were really there and not just a figment of his imagination.  
  
"Ah that is for me to know, and for Sirius not to tell," she said, knowing that he was around there somewhere by the small pop coming from the other room. They laughed as they heard a muffled 'damn' coming from the kitchen.  
  
Soon Lily and James were on their way to the Tricky Tricksters last concert. When they found their seats, they found that they were sitting next to one of the girls from the Christmas Ball. She remembered them because as soon as they sat down she asked "So, are you still grown up James Potter?"  
  
James smiled, "Not tonight" he said happily. Lily sighed, but no one heard it because one of the most popular Wizard Bands of their time was up on the stage, getting ready to perform.  
  
Lily liked them, but they weren't her favorite band. She knew most of their songs because of James, and she couldn't help but sing along with the crowd as they played the first song. (Ok these lyrics are Sum 41's.don't sue me lol)  
  
"I'll never take part in the growing population  
  
Or waste my time with further education  
  
To get what we know, is just a big show  
  
Where they want to control  
  
So jaded and frustrated  
  
It's all so complicated  
  
Fashion, no passion surrounds me"  
  
By the end of the concert, they had played five more songs they had planned. Lily had to admit that it was a great concert. She had a lot of fun, and she knew for a fact that James had loved it. Every time he got a change he would hug her and say 'thank you thank you thank you'.  
  
They got back to Lily's apartment at about one thirty in the morning, and almost dropped from exhaustion. "I'm so tired," James said, sitting down on the couch and leaning his head back.  
  
"Stay here then, I'm sure Sirius can stay home alone." She said, sitting next to him. He chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders.  
  
"It's Sirius we're talking about here, anything's possible." He was about to thank Lily again, but he heard a soft snoring sound. She fell asleep.  
  
The next morning, Lily woke up to find her limbs tangled up with James on her couch. After struggling for a few minutes she gave up and just lay there watching him sleep. 'He's so cute when he's asleep' she thought to herself.  
  
"Mmm" James groaned and pulled her closer to him. "I love you," he whispered in her ear. She turned her head slightly so she was looking at him. "I love you more," but he had already fallen back asleep. Lily sighed and tried to get back to sleep, but she was up and that was that. While waiting for her boyfriend to wake up, Lily found out that she had thirteen cracks in the paint in her ceiling, one bubble in the paint on the doorway to her bedroom, and the carpet had a spot of paint on it by the kitchen door.  
  
She was bored. Very, very bored. Finally after another half hour of staring off into space, James woke up from the sound of Sirius appaperating.  
  
"Ah Wormtail said I'd find you here Prongs," Sirius said, sitting on the chair beside the couch.  
  
"Whaddya want Padfoot," James asked, poking Lily on the nose playfully.  
  
"I was going to ask you how that concert was, and tell you that I found us a bigger apartment, but I can see when I'm not wanted." Sirius sniffed over dramatically and then disappaparated out before anyone could even blink.  
  
"I hate it when he does that." James said shaking his head and laughing. "Wait, did he say he found us a bigger apartment?" Lily nodded her head and watched his face light up. "We have to go find him!" he practically yelled, trying to stand up knocking both him and Lily into a heap on the floor.  
  
"He'll be back, James, he always is," Lily said, laughing as they tried to untangle themselves. In a few seconds they were both standing and trying to smooth out the wrinkles in the robes.  
  
Sure enough, just as Lily said he would, Sirius showed up in the middle of breakfast that morning, literally in the middle. James almost choked on his egg when Sirius appeared on the table in front of him. "You guys ready to go see our new place?" Sirius asked cheerfully. His question was answered when Lily chucked a piece of toast that was smothered in butter at the back of his head, causing it to stick to his hair for a few seconds before sliding off onto the table with a soft thudding noise. "Ok then, I'll check back later." then with that, he left again.  
  
James sighed, and finished his breakfast before going home. When we got there, he found that everything had been moved into boxes with the owners name on them. He looked around at the semi-empty apartment for any sign of the other two people that lived there. Of course he found none because Peter was at work, and Sirius was no doubt out bugging either Peter or Remus while they were at work.  
  
After checking to make sure that everything of his was packed up, he went into the kitchen to see if there was still anything in the refrigerator to drink; he didn't feel like drinking anything that was conjured at that moment.  
  
He opened the fridge and taped on the pitcher of pumpkin juice was a note in Peter's writing.  
  
"Prongs  
  
I had a feeling you would want some pumpkin juice.anyway, the address of the new place is 'Marauders Paradise'. Sirius thought of it.  
  
Wormtail"  
  
James, Sirius and Peter shared an apartment, while Remus lived with his mother still because she was ill. They decided that once she was better they would find a bigger place and the four of them would live together. James put the note down, and then walked across the street to Lily's apartment so she could go as well.  
  
James loved the apartment, it was great, everything that they needed, there was only one thing wrong with it. It was in Hogsmeade, and Lily lived in London. "Just appaperate James, or floo, it's not that big of a deal," she said. James shrugged his shoulders, and they went to look around. It had four bedrooms, one bathroom a kitchen, living room, and a dinning room. It not an apartment, it was more like a flat; it took up the whole floor above one of shops.  
  
They could see why Sirius was so excited about it. The living room was a light shade of blue with a darker blue carpet. Some one had already brought the sofa and chair over from the old apartment, and the wireless was sitting on its stand against the wall across from the couch. The dinning room already had the table and chairs, and the walls already had some pictures on them. There was one of the marauders from every year at Hogwarts. Seventh year was different, instead of just the four boys standing in the common room, it had Lily, Andie and Shelly as well and they were all standing out by the lake in their graduation robes.  
  
The kitchen however was completely empty except for the white linoleum floors and the sparkling white counters. They went to look at the four bedrooms; they were all pretty much the same except for color. Sirius had already claimed his bedroom; cautiously they opened the door to look inside almost afraid to know what it looked like.  
  
It had light gray walls lined with pictures of the marauders and their friends. There was an empty picture frame that he always had. Lily had always wondered why he had an empty frame all the time but when she asked he would just sigh and shake his head. She decided that she would have to ask James some time.  
  
His bed was already there, and so was a dresser that had more pictures on it. Sirius had always liked pictures, he liked taking them, he liked looking at them, and he liked everything about them. The next room was empty and had light blue walls like the living room, only it had hardwood floors. The other two rooms were both white with wood floors. James decided that no matter what room he ended up with, he was going to do some of his own decorating.  
  
On their way out the door to go get lunch at the Three Broomsticks they saw Remus and Andrea walking down the street with some boxes.  
  
"Hey," James called, walking over to the others. After they dropped the boxes off at the new apartment, the four of them headed off to lunch. They were soon joined by Peter who worked as a part-time bar tender there when he was on his lunch break.  
  
"Did ya get my note Prongs?" he asked sitting down at the table with a brown paper bag in his hands. He pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as James nodded his head. "Nice isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah, it is," Remus said, "Oh by the way, I call the blue room."  
  
"You mean the one next to Sirius's?" Peter asked, taking another bite. Remus nodded his head. "Ok, Well James do you have a room claimed yet?"  
  
"Nope, I don't care what room I get, I'm going to uh...redecorate it anyway."  
  
"OK, then I'll take the on that's closest to the living room."  
  
When everyone was done eating, and Peter had to return to work, the others went back to the old apartment to get some of their things to take over to the new place. Soon, with the help of a lot of magic, all of the boxes and extra possessions were at the Hogsmeade apartment getting sorted into the rooms they needed to go in. This normally would have been a very difficult task given the number of boxes, but Lily had read about a sorting charm that helped a great deal in this situation.  
  
They sat on the floor watching the boxes arrange themselves all lost in their own happy little worlds.  
  
a/n: Ok, this was supposed to be a sequel, but I just decided that I'd just continue on this, sooo there ya go, chapter six I guess.lol Hope you liked it  
  
Thank you to all of the wonderful wonderful reviewers!! I love you guys!!  
  
-Manda 


	7. Chapter Seven When Squids Attack

About two months had passed after the Marauders had moved into their new apartment in Hogsmeade. Lily, Andrea, and Shelly were over for dinner on evening. Thankfully, it was Peter that was cooking; he was really the only one of the guys that could cook at all. The others just conjured up food when they were hungry, but conjured never really had the same taste and wasn't as good as homemade.  
  
They had pancakes, bacon, sausage, waffles, and just about any other breakfast food you could imagine. It was a tradition to eat breakfast food for dinner on Wednesday nights at the Marauder residence. After a small food fight had broken out over who got the butter first and James had changed into clean robes, he and Lily decided to go on a walk.  
  
It was warm and the sky was clear with stars twinkling every so often. It reminded Lily greatly of the Christmas Ball a year and a half before.  
  
As they wondered around Hogsmeade aimlessly, they found themselves on the path to Hogwarts.  
  
"It's been a while since I walked this." Lily sighed and squeezed James's hand as she said it. He nodded in agreement. 'Something's different about him tonight' Lily noted to herself as they walked up the hill leading to the gates that would lead them to the past, and everything that Lily had worked so hard to preserve suddenly came flooding back to her.  
  
She remembered the night of the ball when she and James were talking outside, waiting for the guests from other schools to arrive. She couldn't remember what exactly they had been talking about, but she knew it had been some what humorous because she remembered laughing quite a bit.  
  
As James held the gate open for her, she remembered the many times they had snuck out together after they started going out. They had many moonlit walks like the one they were on now; all of them ending in a kiss on the landing of the seventh year dorms. Lily knew that this one wouldn't end that way, but she somehow wished it would all the same.  
  
"It's ok, no one will say anything to us," he said, she suddenly realized that she hadn't gone in yet and she must have looked like such a fool.  
  
"Yeah, I'm sorry I was just wondering about how this place always manages to make my memories sharper and it never seems to change." She said, sighing again.  
  
James smirked and closed the gate behind him, "Don't wonder too far, you might get lost and I don't think I could lose you," he said, taking her hand again as they walked around the edge of the grounds. As they neared Hagrid's cabin, he stuck his head out the door.  
  
"What 'er yah two doin' 'ere?" he asked gruffly, looking mildly surprised to see them there at almost 10 at night.  
  
"Once a Marauder, always a Marauder, Hagrid," James said, shrugging his shoulders and offering a cheeky grin. "We won't pull anything," he added, then thought about that and said "Well, that was quite the oxymoron now wasn't it?"  
  
Lily couldn't help but giggle, and Hagrid seemed to find this amusing as well because he was chuckling, well what was considered chuckling for Hagrid. "Yah two can com in if yah 'ant" he said, opening the door a little more. They graciously took the offer and they were soon sitting around the table in the first of two rooms in Hagrid's hut. They were talking about one of Hagrid's many creatures that he was soon going to acquire, a large boar hound named Fang, when there was a knock at the door.  
  
"'Ello Professor Dumbledore! It's good ter see yah, I was just telling Lily 'en James 'ere 'bout Fang," Hagrid said, gesturing to the table where the two sat, one hoping they wouldn't get send to Azkaban, and the other wanting the Professor to come in and talk for a while.  
  
"Ah, it's good to see that you still have no respect for school rules even it's been almost two years after you left," Dumbledore said with an amused sparkle in his eyes and a smile on his face. James grinned and shook the old mans hand, Lily did the same, only she was slightly more nervous.  
  
"Well I suppose you two will need to be getting along with what it is that you came to Hogwarts to do, I must steal Hagrid from you for a while." Dumbledore said as he gestured to two students behind him who James recognized as Bill Weasely and his brother Charlie.  
  
Lily rolled her eyes, and then followed James out of the cabin, thanking Hagrid for the tea on the way. "Wonder what they got themselves into now?" James asked. "They did always look up to Sirius and I," he said, watching Lily roll her eyes.  
  
"Only because you corrupted the poor boys," She said, laughing lightly. "But then again, who didn't you corrupt?" she asked cocking her head slightly to the side, strongly resembling a curious puppy dog.  
  
"Snape, we didn't corrupt him," James said, as they started walking around the quidditch pitch.  
  
Lily sighed, "No, you just relentlessly tormented Severus," It was James's turn to sigh and roll his eyes. They walked around in silence for a few minutes, each caught up in their own thoughts. Lily was looking up at the Gryffindor Tower, and she saw a light on one of the dormitories. She could also see a person looking at them from within the window.  
  
~*~  
  
Kelsey Cooper sat up in her dorm that night; all of her friends were still down in the Common Room. She wasn't feeling well so she said she was going up to get some rest. What she really ended up doing was thinking about the strange dream she had been having recently. It involved two people that she knew before they graduated. She couldn't remember their names, but it had been a long hard summer, so she forgot a lot of important things like that.  
  
She wasn't quite sure what to think of the dreams, but she wished they would stop. She was sick of waking in the night, almost screaming out loud and covered in sweat. Her friends were starting to get worried about her, but she decided that she couldn't tell them until she knew more about it. She sat by the window in the fifth year girls' dorm looking out over the grounds. She expected them to be empty; it was almost ten at night after all.  
  
She saw the headmaster walk out to the Games keepers hut followed by two smaller figures. 'Just going out for detention I bet,' she reassured herself. She was still startled because she had only woken from her usual dream minutes before hand. Her eyes scanned over the rest of the grounds, completely missing two figures out by the quidditch pitch. She sighed and pulled her blonde hair back and crawled back into her bed.  
  
Sooner than she wished, she was asleep and once more caught up in the horror of the dream that haunted her so much in the passed few months.  
  
***It was a clear night, and she was standing outside a normal sized house that she recognized as her own house that she had moved out of after her parents had died. She walked up, and went inside, just as she always did in the dream; even if she wanted to stop herself, she couldn't bring her dream self to stop. Soon she was walking up the stairs where there was a loud crying.  
  
'James will you get Harry?' a voice asked. So that was the man's name. Kelsey looked around; she saw that there were two people lying on a bed, both of them reading something different. The man was reading the paper, and the woman reading a book of some sort. She could only guess what it was.  
  
The man nodded his head and placed the paper on the end table. He walked out of the room that Kelsey soon recognized as her parents room. She walked down the hall, following the man to her old room, which happened to be the baby's, Harry's, room. She heard a small scurrying noise and looked down. She saw a rat, and was compelled to follow it for some reason. It ran down the stairs and out of the house. She followed it as closely as she could as it raced into a small grove of trees out in front of the house.  
  
Suddenly the rat turned into a man. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, he normally would have been cute, but there was just an air of evil about him that made her shudder when she saw him. 'Master, they are occupied, and the baby is there.' The man informed the black figure that had suddenly appeared out of the shadows.  
  
'Very well Pettigrew, I won't need you anymore tonight.' The cloaked figure swiftly walked passed the man that Kelsey suddenly remembered as being a Marauder. She followed the strange figure up to the house where he silently opened the door with a few spells. He entered the house, and a feeling of dread came over Kelsey. She raced after him up the stairs and down the hall to the room where her dream had started out, to the room where she wished it would end, but unfortunately, it never did.  
  
There was shouting and directions from the man to the woman who wasn't in the room as soon as the man had heard the sick creature walking down the hall. The creature, not knowing where the baby was, decided to go to where the shouts where coming from. Kelsey didn't make it in time to see the body fall to the ground, but she could see a flash a green light and the words 'Avada Kadavra" being shouted. The creature then made its way out of the room to find the woman sobbing holding a small baby behind her back.  
  
After a few moments of pleading, the creature narrowed its red, silted eyes and yelled the deadly curse. The woman fell to the floor lifelessly while the creature began to cackle, sending a shiver down her spin.  
  
'Now it's your turn you stupid boy,' Then once more the fateful words were shouted, but Kelsey thanked her lucky stars she never had to see the baby die.***  
  
Kelsey woke with a start, holding back a scream as she had so many times before, and looked straight into the face of her best friend, Brianna.  
  
"You alright?" she asked, her voice was just as concerned as her eyes. Kelsey just nodded her head, and said 'yeah, it was nothing really,"  
  
~*~  
  
Outside, Lily watched the figure in the window of a dormitory. After a few seconds, it stood and then the lights went out. She guessed whoever it was had gone to sleep and then paid no more attention to them. Soon Lily and James had found themselves out sitting on the rock under a tree by the lake.  
  
"You know what I remember?" James asked pulling her closer to him. She looked up at him and said, 'I'm not sure I want to know'. James just laughed. "Well, I'm telling you anyway. Do you remember the night of the ball last year, when we were waiting for the other students to get here?" he asked she nodded her head. "Sitting here made me remember what we were talking about," he said. "And I just wanted to say what words were lost in the wind because more people had arrived. I said that I would always save you from the squid no matter what,"  
  
Lily giggled remembering just how silly their conversation had been.  
  
*** "Once I had a dream that I got eaten by the Giant Squid," James said, adjusting his dress robes.  
  
"Maybe you should see some one about that, Potter," Lily said, trying not to grin. "I had a dream that I was eaten by a dragon, but that was no doubt thanks to you and Sirius telling me about the dragons in the floo system," she said.  
  
James chuckled slightly at that memory, and then went on. "Well if you save me from the squid, I'll save you from the dragon," he said, just making more conversation.  
  
"Deal," Lily agreed, she was going to say something more, but then the other students arrived, and her words were lost, she noticed James saying something, but she couldn't hear him over the cheers. She decided that she would ask later, but later came and went and she had forgotten all about the conversation.  
  
*** "You know, I said something too," she started,"I just can't remember what."  
  
The two sat watching the squid glide across the water in silence. Lily seriously hoped that she never needed to save James from the stupid thing, or that he needed to save her from it either.  
  
"Lily?" James asked quietly, almost shyly in fact.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"I really do love you," he started. "And, and I want to spend the rest of- of-of our lives together," he said, stuttering slightly, something Lily had never seen James do before. She was going to answer, but he cut her off. "Will you please marry me?" he asked.  
  
Lily turned and looked at him, her eyes searching him for some kind of joke that this could be. When she found none, and he started to look slightly worried, a tear started to roll down her face. "Oh James," she said, hugging him. "I.I don't know I mean it's all so soon."Lily lost her train of thought however, "Oh hell of course I will!" she said, kissing him hard on the lips. This caught him by surprise, and sent them both tumbling into the lake, attracting the attention of the Giant Squid.  
  
Standing in the shallow part of the lake that they had fallen into, James pulled a soggy box from the pocket of his robes. Still in the water, he kneeled down, so that the water was up to his chest. He showed Lily the ring and the slipped it on her fingers, then pulled her down to kiss her. The both sat in the lake for a few seconds, lost in the sweet bliss of their kiss until something slimy touched James, causing him to scream like a little girl.  
  
Lily giggled and got to her feet, pulling him with her, and then over to the bank where they both scurried out of the water. "I told you I'd save you from the squid James," they both had a good laugh before making their way back to the apartment, still dripping wet but too happy to care.  
  
a/n: that last little bit was so fun to write, and I had no idea that some how the squid conversation would actually come into this so much.. hmmm. Well I guess I'll be going now, lots and lots of housework to do because I spent all day writing this and I didn't do my chores.. opps, well I hope you liked it, and I hope you tell me in a review..hint hint.. ooh yeah and that Kelsey girl, she was just a spur of the moment thing that I thought of. She will have a big part in this story later.. well with that, I will leave you.  
  
thanks to everyone who reviewed!  
  
-Manda 


	8. Chapter Eight Dreams

Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting in the kitchen playing a particularly violent game of 'Exploding Snap' when James arrived home that night. He walked into the kitchen and sat on an extra chair and sighed. His friends didn't give him a second glance.  
  
"Guess what," he said, putting his arms on the table causing his robes to make a gross little squishing sound. The other three looked at him with rather annoyed expressions. "Fine, then I guess I'll ask Snape to be the best man," James started to stand up, knowing he wouldn't have to go anywhere because that comment had caught there attention.  
  
"Say that again Prongs?" Peter said, more of a statement than a question.  
  
"I said, I guess I'll ask Snape to be the best man," James repeated slowly, waiting for this to sink in to his friends. All at one the other three looked at each other with looks of sadness, and then looks of happiness.  
  
"I called best man in first year!" Sirius complained. "Any why are you so keen on leaving us anyway?" he asked suspiciously. "Are we not as good as Lily?"  
  
"Nope," James always was a man of cold hard truth.  
  
"Well, I get to be an usher," Peter said, "Where's Lily anyway, did she go home?" he asked, putting his cards down, forgetting about the game and causing it to explode in his face. This provoked laughter from his friends, but Peter couldn't help but join in.  
  
"Yup, she's going to get changed, and we're going to tell her family.should be fun I reckon, with Petunia and all." James said taking a bite of an apple that was in the bowl of fruit on the table.  
  
"How did you manage to get so. damp?" Remus asked almost afraid to know the answer. James was retelling the night's tale, completely skipping the part where he had been touched by the squid.  
  
"I think you're missing something there Potter," Lily said, walking into the room in dry robes. The others looked from one friend to the other. "You seem to have forgotten where you were tapped by the squid,"  
  
The others looked at James and burst into laughter. "You know Padfoot; I think I heard the scream from here." Peter said, wiping a tear of mirth from his blue eyes.  
  
James glared at Lily, well James tired to glare at Lily, but she just smiled sweetly and shrugged her shoulders. "Are you going to change? We can't show up at Petty's when we're still soaking wet. You don't want my sister to know that you're mortified of a harmless squid do you?" she asked, poking him in the ribs in a very juvenile way, but then again she felt very much like a giggling school girl at that moment, and couldn't wait until she could tell Shelly and Andrea.  
  
"Harmless my eye.and it's the size of a house!" James said, still glaring at his friends. They just shook their heads, and told him to go get changed because they couldn't finish their game with him and his girlish scream because the squid accidentally touched him.  
  
"It wasn't accidental! It was groping me!" he whined as Lily led him out of the room and into the back bedroom. She pulled open the closet, reached in and pulled out some robes. She threw them at him and told him to change.  
  
"And James, I'm sure that the squid found no sexual pleasure in what you call its 'groping' she said as she shut the door behind her, leaving him to change. "In fact I'm surprised you didn't kill the thing with that scream of yours." She added through the door. She smiled innocently as she heard a muffled 'shut up' coming from the other side. Soon they were on their way to go see Lily's parents and sister to tell them the news, despite the fact that it was almost midnight.  
  
They walked down the deserted street in the muggle neighborhood where Lily's parent's and her sister lived. They stopped at number 13 Magnolia Drive and took a deep breath. Lily looked at James and then to the door. Finally after a long moment, she brought her hand up to knock, happy to see that there were still lights on in the lower portion of the house.  
  
After a moments wait, Lily's mother opened the door, her red hair that was streaked with silver was dressed in a night gown and had a book in her hand. When she saw Lily, she dropped the book and hugged her youngest daughter.  
  
"Oh Lily dear, is something the matter?" she asked looking at her daughter trying to find what was wrong that made her come knocking on her door in the later hours of the night. "Oh dear, your apartment caught fire didn't it? I should've known not to let you move out yet." her mother went on for a few minutes before Lily could actually get her attention.  
  
"MOM!" she almost shouted. "Nothing is wrong! We just came to tell you the good news, we wanted you to be the first to know," she said. A relieved look swept across her mothers features, and then she noticed an abnormality to the hand that she was holding. She looked from the diamond and emerald ring to James who was standing quietly, almost afraid of the kind old woman that would soon be his mother in-law.  
  
"Oh," she said faintly, "Jake, would you. would you come here a second?" she called into the house. Soon there they could see Lily's father walking down the stairs, he came to join them at the door, wondering what was wrong.  
  
"Mom, Daddy, we're getting married!" Lily said, she grabbed James's hand and pulled him up so they could have a better look at him.  
  
"Who is he? You can't get married we don't even know who it is!" Her dad yelled, looking at him closely.  
  
"Daddy, you know who it is. He was here for Christmas last year, and Easter too. He was even here last month with me when we were going to see Grandma!" Lily said. "It's James Potter Daddy,"  
  
The man looked at the younger man again, "Well I guess it is.Sorry about that boy, I guess I just didn't recognize you in your dress. Petunia's upstairs if you two would like to go inform her of your news I guess you could call it. I guess I'm just relieved that you're normal. Well you wear dresses but."  
  
"Daddy they aren't dresses. They're wizard robes." Lily said taking James's hand and pulling him in the door passed her rude father and unusually quite mother. She led him upstairs to the room at the very end of the hall. They could see a light on from under the door and hear music playing softly. "Petunia?" Lily called softly when she got to the door.  
  
"What?" she snapped when she saw who it was. "What do you and you're sick little boyfriend want?" she said, giving them the dirtiest look she could.  
  
"We're getting married," Lily said causing Petunia to let out a little scream and close the door. "That went.well" she said as they walked down the stairs and passed her arguing parents.  
  
"Do they always fight like that?" James asked once they were outside and the shouting was muffled slightly.  
  
"No, only when I come around that's why I wanted to move out so bad. My daddy pretty much hates me, and so does my sister." Lily said sadly. She looked up at the stars and let out a gasp. Over a house not two blocks from her mother's house was the dark mark.  
  
**  
  
Kelsey sat in bed while her friends were all sleeping. She had just woken up from a different dream, worse than the last one. Maybe it was only worse because it involved her family, well what was left of her family. She couldn't remember the whole thing, but what she could was awful.  
  
There were three men in black cloaks and masks that went up to the door of her aunt's house on Magnolia Drive. They didn't bother knocking, they just used a few unlocking charms, much like in the last dream she had been having. Her aunt was in watching TV, but they ignored her and went upstairs. To her horror the three men went strait to her room.  
  
They were searching threw her stuff, according to one she was important to their side, and another one just wanted to kill her. The third one said nothing, but put a silencing charm on her aunt so they couldn't hear her yelling and screaming hollow threats.  
  
Kelsey knew that the dark lord wanted her on his side, but she refused to go, the reason why her parents had died the summer before. Professor Dumbledore had helped Kelsey and her Aunt come up with a plan incase they showed up.  
  
"Where is the girl?" One asked, her aunt, being a good actress, bowed her head and started to cry.  
  
"I don't know, she just ran off a while back, I can't find her anywhere I even asked her headmaster, he hasn't seen her either," she said still sobbing.  
  
"Maybe this will help you remember where she went," a different one said, placing the craculus curse on the poor woman. She twitched and screamed in pain, after a minute or two they took it off and questioned her again, still playing the act, she said she didn't know. After several more time of this, they put the awful curse on her again, while a second death eater yelled "Avada Kadavra" and the third sent the dark mark up in the sky.  
  
'Thank god it was just a dream' she thought as she lie down and fell back asleep.  
  
**  
  
a/n: Sniff Sniff. Well, there's chapter eight, sorry it's not as long as the last chapter, which wasn't really all that long either, but I can't help it . if I write semi short c hapters like this I can update more. Yay for updating more lol  
  
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! 


	9. Chapter Nine Turning Evil

**  
  
Kelsey Cooper woke up the next morning in a good mood. She had forgotten the dream that she had involving her aunt. She, Brianna, Stacy, Alice, and Marcie all made their way down to breakfast laughing over how they managed to make the substitute teacher cry when they kept doing stupid things through out the lesson. When the first bell rang to start class they all turned their desks around, and when the last bell rang they put them right again.  
  
"Old McGonagall is going to have a fit when she finds out about that!" Marcie said as they entered the Great Hall and took their usual seats at the Gryffindor table.  
  
"You know it's too bad that those Marauders graduated last year, school has been so boring without them and their pranks." Alice said, buttering a piece of toast and then jamming almost the whole thing in her mouth.  
  
"Yeah, and they didn't care what we did when Potter and Evans were the heads, they were either to busy fighting or too busy making out," Stacy said, also buttering toast. The others nodded their heads in agreement as the owl post came in.  
  
Kelsey was a little startled that she actually got a letter, and even more startled that it was from the Ministry of Magic.  
  
"Dear Miss Kelsey Cooper,  
  
We are sorry to inform you that you're aunt, Selma Cooper, has passed away. She was killed by a group of Death Eaters last night at 12:58 P.M. We are sorry for your loss, as from her last written will; you will be staying with her friend, Caitlyn Stevens.  
  
Sincerely,  
  
Ministry of Magic"  
  
She put the note down and looked at her friends who were all watching her. "She's.She's dead," she said before running out of the room, leaving the letter on the table.  
  
**  
  
"Padfoot, where's Wormtail?" Remus asked, sitting down at the kitchen table. "For that matter, where's James?"  
  
"Wormtail is.well I don't know where Wormtail is, but Prongs is probably over at Lily's." Sirius said, his head resting on the table. "Do you know where there's any Advil?" he asked, looking up and rubbing his temples.  
  
"Nope, but it's your own fault for getting drunk last night." Remus said, shaking his head and chuckling. "And you say you were celebrating for Lily and James. It would've made a hell of a lot more sense if they were here when you were celebrating for them Paddy,"  
  
"Don't call me Paddy!" Sirius whined. The two sat chatting and exchanging friendly insults for a few moments, when there was a pop and Peter walked in to the kitchen. His eyes widened considerably when he saw his friends.  
  
"Wormtail! Where did you go?" Sirius asked, "Moony about had a stroke thinking that he was going to have to entertain me all day,"  
  
"I.I can't say," Peter said, stammering nervously, completely missing the joke. "What.What are you doing up? You are never up now." He said. "I have to go," he said grasping his arm in pain, "To...to the doctors," there was another pop and he was gone.  
  
"Well looks like he actually is having a stroke," Remus said, staring at the spot where his friend was only a few seconds before.  
  
**  
  
"Pettigrew, So sorry to call you back, so I'm not sorry, but you forgot something," a cold voice hissed as Peter walked into a dark, slightly damp room. Peter searched his mind and couldn't think of anything he forgot.  
  
"I'm...I'm sorry master," he managed to stammer out. Soon he was looking into the cold red slatted eyes of Lord Voldermort. "I won't let it happen again." He added, a harsh laugh sounded throughout the house at this statement.  
  
"I'll let it go this time Pettigrew," he said, then lowered his voice to a hiss, "if you bring me Jeffery Potter"  
  
**  
  
A month had passed, and to Peter's great relief, Sirius and Remus forgot about his sudden arrival and disappearance, and they hadn't told anyone else. He was currently outside the Potter Manor in his rat form. He was to wait until some one opened a door to enter. He could see why his master wanted Jeffery Potter, he was a great wizard, and an aurora, and not to mention one of his best friend's father.  
  
Peter regretted falling asleep on the bench in Hogsmeade a night before his strange appearance in his apartment saying he was going to the doctor. He didn't want to be a Death Eater at first, but it was starting to get exciting, even more so than sneaking out of school at night and coming within inches of being caught and expelled.  
  
Master was finally sending him out on missions, and his first one, if he succeeded, would make him very popular among the Death Eaters. Jeffery Potter had caught 30 of the best Death Eaters in a little over two years according to his master. Peter doubted that he would be able to catch him, but then the drive of being accepted took over, and he wished more than anything to be accepted.  
  
'You were accepted. You were accepted by your friends, you know those guys you live with,' a little voice in his head said. 'Yes, but I want power! I don't want to be just a member of any old group.' he countered. 'Ah, but you did have power.' Before he could think anything else, the door opened, and he scurried in under the feet of on of the house elves, who thankfully didn't notice him.  
  
He snuck up the stairs to the room that he remembered as James's parent's bedroom from his many stays at the manor. He snuck in under the crack in the door, and saw that both of his parents were sleeping. "Ah master will be most pleased with this!" he thought excitedly. "He said there would be a bonus for getting the wife" he thought gleefully as he changed into human form and took out his wand.  
  
He crept over to the bed and muttered a curse under his breath, 'petrificus totalus', he repeated the curse, and then he went looking through the house for any other person that he could take in. He heard a noise coming from James's room, and then he remembered that he and Lily were visiting for the week. A feeling of regret flowed into his veins and he slowly snuck back down the hall to Mr. and Mrs. Potter's room.  
  
He grabbed both of the petrified bodies and then tried to apparate, forgetting that they had an antiappaparation field up around their house. Muttering under his breath, he charmed the bodies to float along behind him. He went out side, and into the woods outback. This time he succeeded in getting the bodies back to his master.  
  
**  
  
James and Lily were sitting in his bedroom at the manor his parents owned playing a game of chess that Lily was losing quite badly.  
  
They were laughing about how Lily's pieces refused to move anywhere for her when James heard footsteps outside his room. He peeked his head out and saw that there was no one but a figure in a black cloak walking down the hall. He figured that his father had just gotten home from a late night death eater raid and went back to the game.  
  
A few minutes later, after they had finished the game, they were sitting by the window talking when Lily pointed something strange out. James looked out the window and gasped. The figure wasn't his father that was coming home from work. It was a death eater, it had to have been. He looked closer, he knew that person from some where but he couldn't think of them at that moment.  
  
"We should go tell someone," Lily said, looking down out the window, "Because I think those might be your parents."  
  
"Come on, we'll go to Dumbledore, He'll know what to do," James grabbed a pinch of floo powder and told Lily to do the same. She looked at him skeptically, "There aren't really dragons in there!" Soon they were both sitting in the Headmasters office, telling him what had happened.  
  
"I see, well we will do everything in our power to save your parents, James," he said, stroking his long white beard. "I've been meaning to ask you something," he continued. "How would you feel about becoming something like an aurora? I'm afraid I can't pay you, but you do most of the things an aurora does, only you don't fight the death eaters, we track them down and turn them in to the ministry, let them to the dirty work,"  
  
Lily and James glanced at each other, and then turned back to their former headmaster and nodded their heads. "Ah good, now would you mind asking your friends, I do believe that you are still close with Mr. Black, Lupin and Pettigrew,"  
  
"Sure thing Professor."  
  
**  
  
"Ah Pettigrew, what do you have for us this evening?" The cold voice of Lord Voldermort asked, his voice echoing around the hall that was filled with hundreds of death eaters.  
  
"The.The Potters, Master," he said, bringing them forward and bowing. "They're still alive sir," he added stepping back into his place in the circle of Death Eaters.  
  
"Both of them Pettigrew?" he asked, his red eyes burning into Peter.  
  
He stepped forward once again. "Yes Master," then he stepped back.  
  
"Ah very good,"  
  
**  
  
a/n: This chapter was really hard to write, and it didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to, so I'm really sorry if it sucks as bad as I think it does!  
  
In the next chapter: Order of the Phoenix meeting, planning the wedding, and a visit to Kelsey.I don't think there's going to be any death eater scenes in the next one.. I'm not sure yet though..  
  
Thank you to all of the wonderful wonderful reviewers!! I love you guys.  
  
-Manda 


	10. Chapter Ten Lots of Pointless Things and...

Kelsey woke up one morning a few weeks later, almost forgetting about it being the last day of school. She and her friends made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast, like every other day. They pretty much ate in silence, except for the few plans that were being made for the summer.

"I say we all meet up at Diagon Alley and stay the last week at my house," Marcie said, pulling her long brown hair up so that it wouldn't get in her food.

There was a chorus of "Oks," "yeahs," and "that works" from the others. Kelsey just sat there, still very tired. 

"Do we have potions today?" she asked. "I don't think I did my homework last night and professor's going to kill me" without waiting for an answer, she fell asleep with her head resting on the table.

"Should we wake her up?" Brianna asked, poking her best friend in the side lightly with a fork. When breakfast was over, they woke her up, with out the use of a fork like Brianna had offered to wake her up with earlier.

"Kels, it's time to go, you're going to miss the train if you sleep all day," Marcie said loudly near her friend's ear when this didn't wake her all the way Brianna got a fork.

"Brianna! Don't stab her with a fork!" another member of the Gryffindor house yelled.

"Then you wake her up!" she called down the table. Jake Peters walked down the table and stopped by Brianna.

"Ok then, I will," he grabbed a spoon off the table and poked her sharply in the side with it. This had the effect that they wanted, she was on her feet, rubbing her side in a matter of seconds. 

"I thought you said we couldn't use silver wear," Marcie said, looking at Jake questionably.

"No, I said don't use a fork," he corrected, pushing his glasses up his nose and shrugging his shoulders while smiling cheekily.

Soon they had double checked their dorm and common room to make sure they had everything, and were on their way out to the horseless carriages.

As the students boarded the Hogwarts Express to go home for the summer, The Order of the Phoenix was meeting in the History of Magic Class Room.

"Hello, welcome to the Order of the Phoenix to all of our new members. Today we must talk about how were going to get the Potters back. They are still alive, but we don't know what condition they're in."

"When I was held captive by death eaters, they actually treated me pretty good. They didn't tie my up, but they did lock me in a room like a jail cell. Had a toilet and a bed and a flat on the door where they gave me food four times a day." one man said.

This was slightly reassuring to James who was looking at his shoes the whole time they were talking about his parents. Sirius tried not to look at him, Lily kept squeezing his hand, Remus kept smiling encouragingly, and Peter was shaking lightly.

'I didn't know Peter had taken this so hard,' James thought when he looked up to see who had spoken about death eaters holding him captive.

As the meeting went on, they were told exactly what the Order did. "Basically, we look for death eaters, we find them, we alert the ministry right away, they take care of them, and then that's it. No one else knows who we are. We work as a team; there is no one that isn't doing something. You will usually be pair up with some one who you work well with because of ability to find a certain Death Eater. There are times that you will have to take one to the ministry your self, or rather, you and your partners by yourselves. That's why you will always work with the people who you are assigned to work with.

"We are working on getting a place to hold our meetings, some where know one knows about because the death eaters will find out about us eventually. As much as we like to think there aren't any death eaters in the ministry, there are. But we need the proof before we can take them in." Dumbledore explained.

** 

Later that evening, after they all got back from the meeting, the decided to start on planning the wedding. The group of 7 seven people sat around the table at the three broomsticks drinking butterbeer, laughing and throwing out suggestions.

"I think you should get married in the Great Hall," Shelly said, ignoring Sirius's comments about her only wanting to go back to the school.

"If she wanted to go back, she could have just failed a year," Peter said in Shelly's defense. Sirius just rolled his eyes and the rest of the group watched amused at the entertainment provided by their friends.

"Alright, alright, we're here for a reason aren't we?" Remus said after another minute or two of arguing about failing a year to stay. This would have worked if Sirius hadn't said that James would've stayed but the squid was there.

"Oooh Padfoot you're asking for it!" he said, a huge mischievous smile lit up his face as he pulled out his wand and muttered a curse.

Sirius didn't know what happened to him, but he assumed it was something changing color because he couldn't feel anything growing. His suspicions where confirmed when he reached for his mug of butterbeer and his hand was a violent shade of pink. He did, however, get his revenge later that evening when they were walking back to the apartment.

"Say Prongs, you recon Lily would like to marry a purple man?" Sirius asked, waving his wand and saying the spell to turn James light lavender color.

James grinned and muttered something under his breath as well. "Probably about as much as she'd like to have a green and silver best man."

"Ugh, James, you could've picked something better than Slytherin colors, honestly," Peter said, joining in the conversation. "I say a nice bright red with pale blue stripes."

"Peter, you have absolutely no color coordination what so ever," Remus said rolling his eyes. "Maybe pink and red, or red and gold, or two different color blues, but seriously,"

"Yes, well not all of us are that in touch with our, uh shall we say feminine side?" James said, sticking up for Peter's poor sense of colors, which happened to be just as bad as his own.

"Say, it's getting about that time of the month again isn't it?" Sirius asked playing along, not even bothering to take the spell off himself.

"Yes, Padfoot, It's that time of the month again," Remus said, once more rolling his eyes but he couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the conversation.

Soon after they returned home, the four of them were crowded around the kitchen table watching a heated game of chess between Shelly and Andrea who had somehow made it there before the others had made it back. 

They're chess pieces were even getting into the game. They would call out insults to the piece that they were instructed to take.

"Knight to B5," Andrea said, sacrificing her knight to Shelly's queen. "Bloody traitor!" the piece yelled at her before it got knocked into pieces by the other piece. "Teach you to talk back to me you stupid chess set," she muttered, clearing the remains of her knight off the board.

As soon as the queen was moved, she was free to take the queen, and then her next move she was able to check the king. Shelly's game pieces didn't like this very much as they regrouped themselves they started to yell at Shelly about how she needed to get better tactics. She just shoved them in the box, still talking about her 'utter lack of skills'.

** 

Kelsey got off the Hogwarts express with her friends at King's Cross Station. She was paired with Marcie to walk through the barrier out into the muggle world.

"Send me an owl and tell me what you're aunt's friend is like," she said, as they emerged into the hustle and bustle of the station.

"Don't worry, I will. And if she's a bloody witch, I'll be seeking refuge at your place!" she called as she started walking toward the face that she remembered be introduced to.

"_You are_ a bloody witch Kels!" Marcie called back, heading the opposite direction to find her mother and father. Kelsey sighed as she got closer to the lady that was waiting for her, another year was gone, and so was another family member.

"Hullo! I'm Caitlyn, the one who will be taking care of you," the lady introduced herself, shaking the teenager's hand.

"Hello…" she said, feeling kind of shy. She didn't know what kind of person this Caitlyn was, but she at least seemed nice.

"Don't be shy dear, we won't ever have fun if you're shy!" the lady said laughing, "Now tell me about you're year, by the way, what house are you in? I was in Ravenclaw myself...." Oh yes, this was going to be a summer to remember.

** 

"I'm going to see Lily," James called, slamming the door behind him and not waiting to see what any of the other members of the house said.

"God, you'd think they were alright married, he can't stay away from her for three minutes. And when he is away from her, he doesn't shut up about her." Sirius sighed, leaning back into the couch.

"I'm not deaf Padfoot," James said, laughing through the door." Apparently he did wait and see what his friends had to say.

When James arrived in Lily's apartment, via floo powder, he saw a sight that made him wish he had a camera. Lily had fallen asleep. Now, you may thing that there is nothing special about falling asleep, but when you fall asleep and your friends put various hexes and charms on you, then it's something of a Kodak moment.

Lily was lying on the floor in front of the couch with a magazine under her head. She had her hair in a messy pony tail that was charmed orange with purple and black dots, her skin was normal, but her clothes were very not normal. She was in a spork costume.

She had on shiny silver pants, with the same type of shirt. The hat however, was the funniest part. It was shaped like the head of a spork, only it had 'Lily is afraid of sporks and must sleep with James" engraved on it. He found this quite humorous, but then the thought of sharing a bed with Lily came to mind. It sounded nice, but he liked the couch better, if forced them to be closer together.

James sighed and held back his laughter, after taking many of the curses and hexes off of Lily; he sat down next to her on the floor and woke her up.

Ok, so he hadn't gotten all of the hexes off. "James?" she asked, he smiled down at her. He was going to say something to her, but she cut him off with a very loud, and very off key rendition of "We wish you sporkless sleeping," This was the hex that he missed. Her eyes widened when she realized what she was saying, and how she was singing it for that matter.

Finally, James managed to get the hex off of her and they went into the kitchen, hoping to get some work done with planning the wedding.

This thought however was put on hold when they saw what was on the table, or rather who was doing what on the table. "Andie!" Lily said, stomping her foot. "I thought we agreed no more table snogging? Some of us want to eat you know!"

Grinning sheepishly, Andrea Mick and Remus Lupin slid to the floor. "Sorry Lilsy," Andrea said, shrugging her shoulders slightly. It didn't take long for the whole situation to hit James, and then it didn't take long after that for him to find it extremely humorous for some reason. 

Although the reason was standing behind him in the doorway with her long black hair messed up and her shirt on slightly skewed. He didn't need to know that.

a/n: Well, there was Chapter Ten.. Wow ten chapters already! Anyway, sorry for the delay, my internet was down, so I couldn't post. The next chapter will be more of Kelsey, possible a death eater scene, and an order meeting, and this time they will actually do something, so it won't be as painfully boring, (yes, that was probably as painful to write as it was to read! Sorry about that...) Oh, and they will actually get some of the wedding stuff planned too! Yay for that. And sorry if that chess scene was wrong, because well I've honestly never played chess in my life so I have NO idea what I was talking about...lol

Anyway, review and I'll always love you! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I love you too! lol

Manda


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